On Saturday, the junior point guard and vital cog to Kent State's success had x-rays done on his shooting hand.

On Thursday against Buffalo, injured hand and all, he brought the house to its knees in the Golden Flashes 72-69 win at the MAC Center.

As the Golden Flashes held a one-point advantage with under 30 seconds to play, Porrini received a cross-court pass from Rodriquez Sherman that was a fingernail short of being stolen by Bulls forward Mitchell Watt.

Porrini drove the baseline, met Buffalo's Javon McCrea at the hoop, reared back with his right arm so far it appears the ball was behind the backboard and threw down a vicious dunk the likes of which no one thought he had in him.

"That was just action. I didn't know I put it all the way back there till I just saw it," Porrini said after seeing the replays. "As soon as I caught it, my first instinct was to go dunk it. It felt good too. It was adrenaline. My hand does hurt [now]."

Head coach Geno Ford was surprised as anyone with Porrini's highlight reel play.

"He really cannot dunk. I've spent the entire year telling him that he can't dunk, but he goes so juiced up in those situations," Ford said. "I couldn't believe he dunked it. It was as jaw dropping a play to me as anyone in the building. [The] kid is a winner--he's been here one season and he's made three clutch plays to win it in the end. He is such a good competitor.

"You can tell how great of a play it is when the team can't even react right. They call timeout, Sherman is on the ground, coaches are looking around. I still didn't even realize he made it."

That dunk, which put KSU ahead, 70-67, with 19 seconds to play and should be making an encore appearance on ESPN Sportscenter's Top-10 plays, was just a chance at a rematch with McCrea, who has a five-inch, 45-pound advantage over Porrini.

This time, David beat Goliath.

"To be honest I wanted to do [that] in the first half. When I got the ball [that time], I kind of fumbled it and [McCrea] blocked the shot and I fell," Porrini said. "Rod saw me wide open, and it was the same play all over again."

Unfortunately, Porrini broke the first rule about dunking--never talk about dunking.

That's because guard Randal Holt, after his stellar dunk at Western Michigan on Monday night, created "The Flight Club," which is certainly welcoming Porrini as its newest member.

Following the hysteria, the Golden Flashes kept their poise.

KSU allowed a quick layup--which was acceptable, since the defensive focus was on the 3-point line. Holt was then fouled and sunk two free throws to put the score at 72-69 with eight seconds left.

Buffalo guard Byron Mulkey was harassed as the final seconds ticked away and had his shot blocked at the buzzer by junior guard Carlton Guyton.

Porrini will receive all the hoopla, but Guyton lead the Flashes for most of the game with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 3-of-3 from 3-point range. He added five assists, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal while coming off the bench.

Guyton was fantastic on offense, but for a large portion of the game it was just a tad too little.

For nearly the entire game, Kent State always seemed to be within a basket or two but couldn't climb over the hill.

That was until a Justin Greene steal was turned into an easy layup for Guyton at the other end of the floor to finally break through and give KSU a 57-56 lead with eight minutes remaining.

Eric Gaines stripped the ball a couple seconds later that led to a layup and a foul that sent the gym into a frenzy and Ford into a running fist pump.

What was more concerning than the constant deficit was just before the end of the first half, the energy level on defense plummeted. Granted, KSU has played four games in nine days and traveled 3,000 miles in a recent four-game road trip, but that kind of drop-off is deadly to a team in a championship hunt.

"We were tired, we looked tired in the first half," Ford said. "I was really worried about the game because I went in to give the pregame talk and I looked like I was talking to zombies. Guys had glassed over eyes. We're tired."

Ford was forced to make more frequent substitutions and use an expanded rotation to keep everyone's minutes down in the first half.

"[In the second half], we came out more aggressive," guard Guyton said. "For me, I was kind of lackadaisical. We would think we're right there and then someone [from Buffalo] would make a big shot. So it kind of had us down for a little bit."

Porrini added, "At this point in time we can't afford sluggish starts. If we come out sluggish on Saturday [against Ohio] we're going to get blown out in our own gym."

Kent State now holds a one-game lead in the MAC East, 10-3, over Miami. The Golden Flashes face a tough game with weary legs against Ohio on Saturday.